I hate the "except for.." in my PC
 

I'm a set collector, which comes with a bit of OCD. Today I finally solved one of them.

Usually it's an expensive rookie card or a short print that causes the pain. It bugs me when I have things like a 1959 Fleer set, except for the Ted Signs for 59. Or a 1954 Bowman without Ted Williams. I know they're short prints and probably shouldn't count. But it still feels incomplete. Or a 1949 Bowman set without the Jackie like mine is.

My 1952 Topps low number set has been done for years except for a Willie Mays. I finally solved that. I'm praying the high numbers don't start creeping into my mind.

What sets do others have "except for..."?

Congrats on the Mays.

I have a set of 1910 Coupon 'except for' Rhoades.

I am working on getting all the Jackson cards in the T210 set except the Shoeless one. I still need the Lynchburg Jackson but I will get him someday.:)

I have the 1955 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers except for Sandy Koufax, the T206 Brooklyn Superbas except for Bill Dahlen, and the T205 Brooklyn Superbas except for Kaiser Wilhelm.

On the bright side, I do have 80/80 on Fleer Ted Williams.

I'm in the same boat as you were with the '52 Low Numbers - got 'em all except for Mays. Hopefully will get that one eventually.

The 'except for' set I've conceded defeat to though is the 1964 Topps Giants signed set. I'm two away from the complete set, with the holdouts being Clemente and Farrell. Farrell is doable, but $$ for a pretty common player and tough to find. However there are only half-a-handful (three cert'd by PSA/DNA) of signed Clementes, and I don't expect to ever get one of those. Will probably call that set 'complete' at 58/60 and move on.

Congratulations on reeling in the Mays and finishing off the Low Numbers.

I collect T206. I’m going for the set, except “The Big Four.”

I’m sure I’m not alone in that never-to-be-completed pursuit.

Going for the monster 524, except for the big four...and maybe the O'Hara and Demmitt...and maybe the Dahlen and Elberfeld...😳

1933 Goudey, except for Nap Lajoie (and the Babes unless you have deep enough pockets for all four).

For me, it's the 51 Bowman....complete and fully graded, except missing the Mantle rookie....maybe one day

It's nowhere near complete yet, but I am ostensibly collecting the '67 Topps set. Though I have the two big rookies in the 7th series, the rest of the high number SP's will probably wind up being my "except for." Ponying up for Rod Carew is one thing; the idea of paying north of $100 for Mike Shannon feels foolish to me most of the time.

I am trying to complete a T206 back run of McGraw - glove and only missing the Cycle and Uzit, the only known copy of which sits with our own Teddy Z.

Goudeys
 

I have been one card short of completing the '33 Goudey set in trimmed condition (which is weird, but more affordable) for years now. I don't mean the Lajoie.
I have the complete set EXCEPT FOR the green Mel Ott port. I am not willing to pay current prices for a legitimately nice copy, and trimmed ones basically never show up for auction. Frustrating.

Some of you may not like modern stuff, but I put together a rainbow of 2016 Topps Francisco Lindor. I have every parallel of the flagship base card, including chrome, opening day, factory sets, etc. EXCEPT FOR the 1/1s. Simply impossible to find. I check eBay every day, and I post on various collector forums, but I'll likely never even see the superfractor. I do have all the /5 versions which took plenty of time themselves.

Times like these you need to pickup a beater and trim it yourself. It may be the only way. :)

I hear your pain on the 1/1s. I have a modern rainbow I am going after. It has 7 1/1s in the rainbow plus all the other serial #ed versions. I have everything but 3 of the 1/1s. I will probably never see them but I still regularly look for them. I made custom versions to temporarily(hopefully) fill their spots.:)

Count me in as a one card short '33 Goudey collector as well (I don't count the 1933/34 Lajoie).

I put together the entire set in 2021 minus one card, the yellow Ruth. I didn't care about centering, corners, etc. my main OCD was brightness/cleanness of the background colors. All of the yellow background cards were tough for me to find in non-dirty condition, and so the Ruth became my white whale. I kept thinking a nice looking A would pop up for a reasonable price but it didn't happen and then I ended up waiting too long as prices kept going up. I've since moved on to other sets and my collecting focus has changed somewhat, sometimes I wonder if perhaps I'll always be one card short.

About two months ago, my friend gave me most of his childhood collection: Topps Baseball 1967-1969. Each one is missing quite a bit of the commons and the condition of each set is pretty bad, but that's not too much of a problem. What he didn't have were all of the major stars. I will have to live without the 67 high numbers, missing all of the cards for Clemente; Mantle; Bench; Ryan; Aaron (67,69); Mays (67,68); Reggie Jackson (69); plus many of the stars that don't command the same amount of money. This is not a complaint, but it's going to take me quite awhile to put these three sets together- just like when I was a beginning collector in the early 1970s. I am reliving my childhood!

Phil aka Tere1071

The one that glares for me is my 54 Bowman set mentioned earlier...mine is "except for Ted Williams..." and that does bother me. I've been looking for the right deal for too long...lol.

The "except for..." has caused me to not start most sets such as 52 Topps. My OCD can't stand things not complete...

Ruth, Ruth, Ruth

R306 Butter Cream EXCEPT FOR RUTH
W575-2 EXCEPT FOR RUTH
E253 Oxford EXCEPT FOR RUTH

When the cost of one card exceeds the cumulative cost of the other cards in the set, it's a problem. At least for me.

[QUOTE=riggs336;2392401]Ruth, Ruth, Ruth

R306 Butter Cream EXCEPT FOR RUTH
W575-2 EXCEPT FOR RUTH
E253 Oxford EXCEPT FOR RUTH

When the cost of one card exceeds the cumulative cost of the other cards in the
set, it's a problem. At least for me.[/Just to add another: Uncle Jack's.

My "never will have" exists in post 80's sets. More specifically the 1990 Topps set. I never will have the Frank Thomas NNOF. That is the big one for me. My sets only go back to 69 Topps and with very few exceptions, I have been successful in getting the hard to get ones for those respective years.

But Mr Thomas and I will never be together unless I dumb luck stumble across one somewhere. Just not likely to happen.

Butch Turner

My sets are all post-war. Haven't dove into attempting any pre-war yet. So my "except for..." includes;

1949 Bowman set - except for Robinson, Paige, Snider, Doby
1952 Topps set - except for high numbers
1954 Bowman - except for Ted Williams
1959 Fleer set - except for "Ted Signs"
1960 Leaf Set - except for 2nd series
1971 Topps Football - except for Bradshaw Rookie
1980-81 Topps Basketball - except the Bird/Magic/Ervin card

Hoping to know one or two off my list by the end of next year but some may take a long time or even never.

It's interesting seeing how the T206 set has changed over the years. First it was 523, then 524, then down to 520, and eventually 518. Now your saying we might be heading into a 516 card complete set. With these prices lately, I'm not surprised. I wonder if the day will come when a 500 card set fits a certain complete category. It's still the set that I've had the most enjoyment chasing and sharing information with, to other collectors, during my whole collecting life.

Yeah, I was partially kidding about the Elberfeld and Dahlen (they'll happen). The others, it's actually been fun finding "fillers," such as...

Me not being a binder guy, allows me to have spaces in my collection without needing fillers. Plus it would be difficult to be a binder user when collecting all the different backs of each card. But I do like using the 2002 Topps 206 mini cards for the "Big 4" spaces. Plus they all come with rare backs to choose from, so it's not like you are putting a dollar card as a place holder. Wagner and Plank are rarest with a Cycle back, and Magie n Doyle are rarest with a Carolina Brights back. I tell other collectors to use these instead of the Dover type reprints if you need to fill a space.

Great looking Wagner by the way.

I have all 68 of the E300 Plow's Candy cards except for the 67 that are not Bill Dahlen.

Brian (I'm just that type card of a guy)

Wow...you got me on that one...at first I thought "amazing, he has an almost complete set of E300s"...then I read it again.

My "except for" set is 1933 DeLong. I have 17 of the 24 but five of the missing ones are HOFers (that set is full of them). Luckily I have Gehrig because I bought it in 2017, but it is going to be tough/expensive to finish unless I adjust my condition requirements.